1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a musical apparatus for playing back music with an enhanced part performance, and a computer program for realizing such an apparatus using a computer system, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method in which particular parts among a plurality of performance parts constituting a consolidated music performance are played back in an enhanced manner in comparison to other parts, which may be referred to as a solo function in the field of electronic musical apparatuses, and such particular parts which are set to be in an enhanced playback mode can be batch-canceled to bring all the performance parts back to an ordinary playback mode by a simple manipulation, for example on a digital mixer or the like apparatuses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of electronic musical apparatuses such as a digital mixer for playing back music performances, some of such apparatuses are equipped with a so-called xe2x80x9csolo functionxe2x80x9d in which a particular part or parts among a plurality of performance parts constituting a consolidated music performance are played back in an enhanced manner in comparison to other parts. In the conventional apparatuses, however, if a solo function (i.e. an enhanced playback mode) is set for a particular performance part, the remaining performance parts are played back in a muted condition (i.e. a suppressed playback mode).
In conventional apparatuses of this type, the setting and the canceling of the solo function is controlled by a dedicated control switch (xe2x80x9csolo switchxe2x80x9d) provided individually for individual performance parts, and therefore the solo function can be set either for a single performance part or for a plurality of performance parts simultaneously. And if the solo function is set for any (one or more) of the performance parts, other performance parts for which the solo function is not set are played back in a muted condition, i.e. in a decreased tone volume (not necessarily in silence).
With the conventional arrangement, the setting and the cancellation of the solo function have to be rendered individually for each performance part, and accordingly it will take a considerable amount of time to cancel the solo function of all the parts where a plurality of performance parts are set with the solo function. Further, the playback conditions of the performance parts which are not set with the solo function are set forcibly to a predetermined particular state (i.e. a muted state, and this state is common to all the performance parts for which the solo function is not set). Consequently, the user cannot set the playback conditions individually to realize his/her own desirable solo function, for example, by setting the solo part to be recognized in an arbitrarily desirable balance or contrast with respect to all the other parts which are played back concurrently.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to solve the above described drawbacks with the conventional apparatus and to provide a novel type of apparatus for playing back music performance signals with an effective solo function in which the solo function individually set for a plurality of performance parts can be batch-canceled by a simple manipulation and the playback conditions of the individual parts can be arbitrarily controlled for the playback with a solo function on a particular part or parts.
According to the present invention, the object is accomplished by providing an apparatus for playing back music with an enhanced part performance comprising: a plurality of part playback channels each of which plays back music performance signals of each assigned part of plural performance parts constituting in combination a consolidated music performance, at least two of the plurality of part playback channels each being capable of playing back the music performance signals of the assigned performance part selectively in an enhanced mode or in an unenhanced mode according to a designated state, the enhanced mode being a mode in which the music performance signals are played back more prominently than in the unenhanced mode; an enhanced mode designating device provided in association with the at least two part playback channels, for selectively designating a set state of the enhanced mode for the associated part playback channel to cause the music performance signals of the assigned part to be played back in the enhanced mode of performance, when the set state is designated, and in the unenhanced mode of performance, when the set state is not designated; and an enhanced mode batch clear designating device which designates cancellation of all of the set states of the enhanced mode for the associated part playback channels, thereby rendering the unenhanced mode of performance in all of the at least two part playback channels.
In an aspect of the present invention, the playback of the music performance signals of the assigned performance part in the enhanced mode may be realized by suppressing the playback of the music performance signals by all other part playback channels than the part playback channel for which the enhanced mode is designated.
In another aspect of the present invention, the suppressing the playback of the music performance signals may be realized by decreasing the tone volume of the music performance signals played back by the other part playback channels.
According to the present invention, the object is further accomplished by providing an apparatus for playing back music with an enhanced part performance comprising: a plurality of part playback channels each of which plays back music performance signals of each assigned part of plural performance parts constituting in combination a consolidated music performance, at least two of the plurality of part playback channels each being capable of playing back the music performance signals of the assigned performance part selectively in an enhanced mode or in an unenhanced mode according to a designated state, the enhanced mode being a mode in which the music performance signals are played back more prominently than in the unenhanced mode; an enhanced mode designating device provided in association with the at least two part playback channels, which device selectively designates a set state of the enhanced mode for the associated part playback channel to render the music performance signals of the assigned part to be played back in the enhanced mode of performance, when the set state is designated, and in the unenhanced mode of performance, when the set state is not designated; and a performance condition controlling device for controlling a condition of the unenhanced mode of performance.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the performance condition controlling device may include first control devices, each provided for each of the at least two part playback channels, for controlling the condition of the unenhanced mode of performance, and a second control device, provided for all of the at least two part playback channels in common, for controlling the condition of the unenhanced mode of performance, whereby the condition of the unenhanced mode of performance may be controlled by the first control device and the second control device in combination.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, the performance condition controlling device may control the condition of the unenhanced mode of performance in common by means of a common control signal.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, the performance condition controlling device may be capable of controlling the condition of the unenhanced mode of performance, while at least one of the part playback channels is playing back the music performance signals in the enhanced mode.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, in case the mode designating device may designate a set state of the enhanced mode anew for a single playback channel among the plurality of playback channels while all the other playback channels may be set under the unenhanced mode, the mode designating device may cause all the other playback channels to play back the music performance signals in a suppressed mode.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, in case the mode designating device may designate a set state of the enhanced mode anew for a single playback channel among the plurality of playback channels while there may be another playback channel which may be set under the enhanced mode, the mode designating device may cause the single playback channel to play back the music performance signals in the enhanced mode.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, the performance condition controlling device may decrease the tone volume of the music performance signals played back by the associated part playback channel.
According to the present invention, the object is further accomplished by providing a computer program containing program instructions executable by a computer and causing the computer to execute: a process of providing a plurality of part playback channels each of which plays back music performance signals of each assigned part of plural performance parts constituting in combination a consolidated music performance, at least two of the plurality of part playback channels each being capable of playing back the music performance signals of the assigned performance part selectively in an enhanced mode or in an unenhanced mode according to a designated state, the enhanced mode being a mode in which the music performance signals are played back more prominently than in the unenhanced mode; a process of selectively designating a set state of the enhanced mode for each of the at least two part playback channels to cause the music performance signals of the assigned part to be played back in the enhanced mode of performance, when the set state is designated, and in the unenhanced mode of performance, when the set state is not designated; and a process of clearing all of the set states of the enhanced mode for the associated part playback channels, thereby rendering the unenhanced mode of performance in all of the at least two part playback channels.
According to the present invention, the object is further accomplished by providing a computer program containing program instructions executable by a computer and causing the computer to execute: a process of providing a plurality of part playback channels each of which plays back music performance signals of each assigned part of plural performance parts constituting in combination a consolidated music performance, at least two of the plurality of part playback channels each being capable of playing back the music performance signals of the assigned performance part selectively in an enhanced mode or in an unenhanced mode according to a designated state, the enhanced mode being a mode in which the music performance signals are played back more prominently than in the unenhanced mode; a process of selectively designating a set state of the enhanced mode for each of the at least two part playback channels to cause the music performance signals of the assigned part to be played back in the enhanced mode of performance, when the set state is designated, and in the unenhanced mode of performance, when the set state is not designated; and a process of controlling a condition of the unenhanced mode of performance.
As will be understood from the above description about the apparatus for playing back music with an enhanced part performance comprising, a sequence of the steps each performing the operational function of each of the structural elements of the above apparatuses will constitute a method for playing back music with an enhanced part performance according to the spirit of the present invention.
As will be apparent from the description herein later, some of the structural element devices of the present invention are configured by a computer system performing the assigned functions according to the associated programs. They may of course be hardware structured discrete devices. Therefore, a hardware-structured device performing a certain function and a computer-configured arrangement performing the same function should be considered a same-named device or an equivalent to each other.